


Bawling Over Butterflies

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction
Genre: Fluff, M/M, almost probably a crack ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-06
Packaged: 2018-02-12 00:16:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2088450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis gets weepy over animals when he's drunk. Nick doesn't quite know what to do with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bawling Over Butterflies

When Louis has too much to drink, he gets kind of weird. Nick has known this from the day they met. Hell, he’s known since _before_ they met, thanks to Harry’s love of telling embarrassing stories. But the first time Nick really sees it, it’s a week after Louis has moved in with him.

He comes home from dinner with friends to find Louis on the couch absolutely bawling; cocooned in a blanket, surrounded by crumpled tissues, sobbing so hard Nick is afraid he isn’t getting any oxygen. There’s also an empty bottle of wine lying on the floor. His first instinct is to walk back out and pretend he witnessed nothing, but then Louis sees him and starts crying harder, if it’s even possible. Louis tries to say something to him that comes out as a jumble of sound.

“I did not understand that,” Nick tells him, cautiously walking into the room. He glances at the TV to find a nature program running. Thousands of butterflies are crowded on a bunch of trees. It’s pretty gross, if you ask him, but apparently Louis finds it extremely disturbing.

“They just,” Louis manages, almost hyperventilating. “They just.”

“They just _what_?” Nick asks. That was the wrong thing to say, judging by how Louis smushes his face into the couch cushions. Nick goes into the kitchen and decides he should probably call Harry, since he’s been Louis’ friend since birth and has probably run into a situation like this.

As soon as Harry picks up, Louis lets out a wail.

“What the fuck was that?” Harry questions. Nick almost laughs.

“Louis,” he says.

“What did you do, stab him in the eye?” Harry says.

“I didn’t do anything!” Nick exclaims. “I came home and found him on the sofa bawling his eyes out while there’s a nature program on.”

“Oh god,” Harry says. Louis makes a really gross snorting sound, and Nick grimaces.

“What?”

“He’s drunk, isn’t he?”

“Judging by the bottle of wine, yes,” Nick says. Harry sighs.

“You can’t let him watch TV when he’s drunk or he finds a nature show and gets really emotional about it.”

“Seriously?”

“He spent the day after his 21st birthday screaming about elephants understanding death,” Harry tells him. “Zayn tried to take the remote away from him, and Louis bit him so hard he started bleeding.”

“So changing the channel would be a bad idea?” Nick assumes.

“If you don’t want a serious injury, you should probably let him cry himself out.”

Peering into the living room, Nick frowns. Louis’ turned on his side to still watch the show, and he keeps whimpering pathetically.

“But he looks so sad.”

“He’ll get over it once the show ends.”

Nick sighs; Harry laughs.

“I gotta go, but I promise he’ll be fine.”

He hangs up before Nick can say anything in response. Figuring Louis will still be on the couch for a while, Nick changes into more comfortable clothes. When he comes back, Louis has gotten his hands on a second bottle of wine.

“I don’t think you need any more to drink,” Nick says, easing the bottle away. Louis doesn’t protest, just waits for Nick to sit and then puts his head in his lap. Nick isn’t quite sure what he’s supposed to do, so he settles for playing with Louis’ hair. The butterflies on the screen are flying around a guy in a field now; it is kind of cool looking, Nick supposes. But he wouldn’t be standing there. Bugs are bugs.

“It’s just so sad,” Louis says after a minute. His voice is wrecked, barely more than a rasp.

“What is?” Nick asks. Louis turns on his back to look up at him.

“They try _so hard_ and they still _die_.” His eyes well up again. “It’s not fair.”

“It’s not,” Nick agrees, wiping away the wetness on Louis’ cheeks.

“And it’s their whole life, the one trip. That’s all they’re built to do. That’s all their life is, and some of them don’t even get to do it.”

“That’s very sad.”

“It is sad. It’s so sad.” Louis falls silent for a while. Credits roll on the TV. “One of them fell in a river, and the people filming didn’t even get it out. They could’ve, but they didn’t. Why do they do that?”

“Because they’re heartless bastards,” Nick states, and Louis sniffs.

“Soulless.”

“Empty shells.”

Louis finally stops crying when Nick pulls him up against his shoulder and kisses his temple.

“I think there’s a rescue show on next,” he says, eyeing the TV sadly.

“Why don’t we go to bed?” Nick suggests. Louis squints at him.

“Are you trying to keep me from watching it?”

“Absolutely.”

“Fine,” Louis says, allowing Nick to drag him up. “But next week I'm watching the show about frogs.”

“Just as long as you’re sober,” Nick replies.

“No promises.”

**Author's Note:**

> this is the product of me getting emotional about a baby elephant and then spiraling into remembering every sad nature show i've watched (aka all of them). Louis was watching a Nature episode about the migration of monarchs, and a butterfly did fall into the river, and it was very sad.  
> also this is dedicated to my friend Brittany for not deserting me even though i regularly make her sad about animals.


End file.
